WA Lege SpecSess: From Tea Party to Soda Party?

OLYMPIA -- Democratic leaders in the House and Senate may still be searching for enough votes to pass their "go home" tax package, but some of the would-be taxed aren't waiting for them to get a head count and reassemble at the capital.

Bottlers, convenience store owners and others opposed to the tax on soda will be protesting at 10 a.m. on the Capitol steps. Won't be many legislators around to watch. Day 26 of the "Seven-Day Special Session" is a pro forma day, with few of the honorables even around.

They're scheduled to start up real legislative business Saturday at 2 p.m. It's a late start to accommodate the travel back to Olympia from their respective homes, where most of them have been for more than a week while Democratic leaders passed tax proposals back and forth.

They've allegedly settled on the "menu" approach: taxes on bottled water, soda, big brewery beer, a B&0 hike for service businesses; no bump in the sales tax, no trimming or gutting the sales tax exemption for out-of-state shoppers, no new tax on specialized software, no bump in taxes for private airplanes.

The plan hasn't been released to the public yet -- still needs to be tweaked -- legislative sources say, but enough of it has been leaked that those who are about to get new taxes are already torqued.